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When last seen here on May 11 at their famed Madison Square Garden, the New York Rangers won against the Pittsburgh Penguins to force a Game 7, a game they would ultimately win to take the Eastern Conference semifinal.

Two more road wins behind a red-hot Henrik Lundqvist in net and suddenly the Rangers are two wins way from advancing to the Stanley Cup final for the first time in two decades.

It’s against that backdrop Thursday night at MSG that the Rangers will attempt to put a dagger in the hearts of the Montreal Canadiens and open up what would be a commanding 3-0 lead in the conference final.

“We’re a confident group with our total attention on tonight’s game and what we need to do to have success,” Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said Thursday following his team’s morning skate. “Since we’ve had (two full days off) between Game 2 and Game 3, we’ve been able to go through a couple of areas that we feel we must be better in tonight.

“We know they’re going to be ready.”

They’ve looked ready for a while now, actually. Since being booed off the ice early in the series vs. the Penguins, the Rangers have won five in a row, four of those on the road and are certainly the hottest team of the remaining four.

“Honestly, this is the best team we have played in the playoffs so far,” Montreal coach Michel Therrien said following his team’s optional skate, a shot, perhaps, at the regular-season champion Bruins who they defeated in the previous round. “Right now, we know the Rangers are playing with a lot of confidence.”

The previous time the Rangers had such a lengthy post-season winning streak was back in 1994, the last time they captured the Stanley Cup. The Blueshirts haven’t been to the Cup final since.

After losing two at home, Therrien isn’t likely to stick with the status quo Thursday night in what promises to be a rocking Garden. After the Habs skate, Therrien hinted at lineup changes for Game 3.

“You’ll see tonight,” Therrien said after his team’s optional game-day skate. “Might be though.”

On Wednesday, Therrien confirmed that Dustin Tokarski will make a second consecutive start for injured Carey Price. And the coach said he expects the youngster to be more comfortable away from the pressure of Montreal.

“You look at his background and he’s a winner -- that was the number one priority for us,” Therrien said. “I thought he handled it really well (in Game 2) especially at the Bell Centre. It’s a different pressure on the road. He played really well on the road for us this year every time we asked him to play.”